Football news: The 'caxirola'

Brazil’s rattly answer to the vuvuzela is off to a shaky start.

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In a possible attempt to drown out the clamour stemming from the delays and ballooning costs tied to next year’s World Cup, Brazil – apparently heedless of the backlash from 2010 host South Africa’s infamous vuvuzela horn – unveiled its own musical creation.

The caxirola (above), pronounced ‘cashi-row-la’, is a percussion instrument (essentially a green-and-yellow plastic rattle) set to debut in June’s FIFA Confederations Cup – the host country’s dress rehearsal for 2014’s main event.

Albeit designed to be less strident than the vuvuzela, the caxirola is, however, at the centre of a row following a trial run on 28 April 2013, when fans at the Fonte Nova stadium in Salvador threw caxirolas onto the field in protest at the players’ poor performance.

Fears that the rattle’s days might be numbered before they’d even begun may be premature, though. ‘Something similar will not necessarily occur if Brazil is losing a game in the Cup,’ said the far-from-reassuring Minister for Sport Aldo Rebelo.

Update: In lieu of the events in Salvador, Brazilian authorities have banned the caxirola from this year's Confederations Cup. No decision has been made as of yet regarding its potential use at next year's World Cup.